ITS SEPTEMBER SO IT IS TIME TO STUDY A NEW TESTAMENT LETTER!!!!-
There is a great quote that goes, “we are not sure if fish discovered water but are pretty sure they were content to swim.” Which is pretty true for most of us, maybe we have thought about the “water we swim in” but for the most part we are just content to swim.
That is nature of living to not fully recognize the images, ideas, and makeup of the things around us. If theology is good for anything it should be to point out that God is something. Creator, Lord, Redeemer, Peacemaker, Savior are all ideas and images that should shake our worldview. After all following Christ should rattle our everyday and even the mundane.
IMAGES- “we worship what we believe and too often we believe what we see”
Paul has a great little letter about all this and it is never studied as intensely as it was written. Colossians is a fantastic example of righteous indignation. Paul is writing to a city enamored with the images and story of the Roman Empire. Statues of Caesar, holidays for Roman conquest, and all kinds of Roman worship festivals and temples flooded the city’s streets and buildings walls. Chants of Caesar is Lord! and Pax Romana rang out reminding the citizens of Colossae who was in charge.
However, this is not the Christian story. Caesar is not Lord, Christ is Lord and to be absorbed by the Civil government and not the politics of Christ is a syncretic sin that Paul wrote against.
Hear Paul uplift and remind the people of the Christ they serve
““He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
(Colossians 1:15–20 ESV)”
This Christ is Cosmic!!!- this is a Christ that is stands against the political leadership of this world... to be Creator, and head of the body is to be under Christ and not Caesar... He is the reconciler of all things in Heaven AND ON EARTH- that He is Lord of this world and not Caesar!- Christ is Lord truly comes to replace Caesar and not just endorse another civil leader...
so for preparation for tomorrow read Colossians chapter 1 and hear it as listener who might becoming caught up in the “civil story” and not the Christ story...
<<<<REMINDER>>>>>>> Cambodia Information Meeting Tomorrow Night After Brightside!!!
First Baptist Church of Bethany Student Ministries (FBCBSM)
3800 N Mueller Ave
Bethany, OK 73008
(405) 789-3312
Youth Center
3700 N Mueller Ave
Bethany, OK 73008
Open Hours
Sundays 9am-11am, 4pm-7pm
Wednesdays 5pm-8pm
